"It was the warmest, most reassuring hand I've ever felt"

From The Huffington Post, Advice to the Young on Their Wedding Day

This is really random but I just wanna save this read. Relevant advice like "don't argue over the little things" and "challenge each other" are cool but I love the last part best.


"Yesterday was a long day. Woke up early, went to work, got home, cooked dinner, unpacked boxes in the new house, put beds together, collapsed into bed. This could have been any long day, with the exception that I was collapsing next to her. We didn't say anything to each other; we were too tired. She simply put her hand on my back as we fell asleep together. It was the warmest, most reassuring hand I've ever felt."

And with that I realized that there was nothing more I could say.


These little comforting acts are surely what that allow us to sleep snugly without a tinge of loneliness, and also what that keep us going, especially during tough times. Well, at least for me :')

That aside, exams will be over in a week!

Strength from The Other Half

When we find nowhere to vent our insecurities and anxieties, we'll always have each other. 

Friends may not be an option due to our ego and pride while parents are definitely not preferred for obvious reasons - they are getting old and already have too much on their plates. Your other half listens and empathizes, never judging while understanding you better through your difficulties and dilemmas. 

So don't hesitate to share your worries with him/her and gain the strength you need from his/her relentless love and support! <3

Busy like a Bumble Bee

Omg I've been so busy! After returning from Bali, I had a wedding to attend with my mum on the following Saturday and left Singapore for Muar, Malaysia on Sunday morning for a Father's Day visit of my granduncle. Recuperating from the hectic schedule, I came to realize that I am finally leaving for summer programme in US in less than a week's time. 2 months to prepare have flown past just like that, and I'm ashamed to say that there are still so many things left unplanned and uncertain! Have been pretty stressed all this while with the packing and planning.

In addition, I brought the DSLR which my uncle is lending me for the US trip to Bali and also, on the several occasions mentioned. The photos are so awesome that I got carried away snapping away. I believe I have taken more than 1000 photos ever since I took over the camera in Bali. So I had been losing sight of my priorities and spending much of my precious time on filtering, editing and uploading the photos on fb! But I shall still reveal 2 of the photos from the last day of Bali here!

When I just woke up from a nap in the coach!

Finally arriving at somewhere high enough to view the active volcano!

Oh well, at least I have started on my packing and will be exchanging currency and tying up some loose ends later today... But I still have no idea how I am supposed to travel from the JFK Airport in New York to my accommodation Hampton Inn Seekonk in Providence! The trains and coach buses in US are under various service providers and the timings and routes are all so inflexible. There was one bus route which I found require 17 hours?! When Providence is supposed to be a 3 hours' drive away from NY. This is all crazy! And I cannot tolerate how nonchalant my travel mates are :(

Okay I have so many thoughts to share on Bali and on marriage & divorce which I have witnessed and heard over the recent weekend. Sharing them now will make me sleep even later and make this post chapalang (messy)! Guess I shall leave it to next time, if I remember! Wish me luck for my US summer programme, may I enjoy myself and be safe and sound.

See you soon!

2nd Visit to Wild Honey

Hey I just met you and this is crazy! But here I am back again, wide awake at 5.30am in the morning when the perpetual sound of the raindrops is lulling me to sleep. Just wanna post some photos of my recent visit on Thursday to Wild Honey @ Scotts Square again! To be honest, I was kinda disappointed that I didn't get to brunch at Prive cafe bakery cos I've heard of the breathtaking view at Keppel Bay and I've never seen yachts in real life. And I guess the all-day breakfast at Prive is more affordable! Oh well, it was fine nonetheless experiencing a different Wild Honey with my cousins and with more people dining, we could try a wider variety of breakfasts.

I enjoyed my first visit to Wild Honey more though, this time round I somehow felt pressured, confused, anxious and a little unhappy while dining. Firstly, my youngest cousin toppled the baked beans from his English Breakfast (Full Works), the most value-for-money one, due to a careless slip of his fingers. Though Wild Honey kindly replaced it with a new pot of baked beans, I felt that the table was still messy and all. Furthermore, I realized that the brioche* (not bread haha) were missing from his breakfast! I had to apprehensively ask the waitress about it and when the waiter served them standing precariously on a small plate, it was totally expected when the brioche tumbled and almost fell off the plate. Such carelessness in forgetting the brioche and serving it haphazardly was quite disappointing.

I recalled how the brioche were standing tall for the English Breakfast during my 1st visit!

Another reason was perhaps that the Tunisian Breakfast which the conservative me adventurously ordered turned out to be not really to my taste and my stomach seemed to be churning after which. Not really used to the Tunisian breakfast style despite me being a lover of tomatoes & onions! It is Wild Honey's signature dish though, you may like it, unlike my family!

"Sizzling pan of shakshouka (tomato, onion, red pepper, chilli), studded with Chorizo sausage, crowned with 2 fried eggs..."

Served with "signature brioche and Israeli salad"

What salvaged the experience was the amazingly good Breakfast Hangover sandwich which my aunt ordered but dared not touch because of the strong cheesy smell she claimed. I gobbled up one half of it. It was so satisfying with all my favourite things, scrambled eggs, cheese, smoked ham, ciabatta and potatoes awwww.

Eggs scrambled to perfection, mingling with the cheese, awesome potatoes at the side!

Toasted ciabatta!

The European Breakfast was as good as ever and my cousin YT loved the egg benedicts with their signature Hollandaise sauce. The portion for the New York Breakfast (forgot to take photo!) looks small for my 1.8m cousin YH but turned out that my aunt loved the bagel and most of us were smearing the cream cheese on all our brioche in the end hehe.

European Breakfast caught my heart at my 1st visit!

Look at the oozing Hollandaise sauce with the egg, ham & mushroom on fluffy brioche

I ordered the Scandinavian Breakfast for mum which looked really sumptuous too with all my favourite things as well (I've too many favourites). It was grilled salmon fillet with Hollandaise sauce on top of crispy potato rosti and asparagus with 2 cute little tomatoes. I think my mum can make us something similar to this at home! Hope she gets inspired and prepare it for us soon yumyum.

Mum fell in love with the tomatoes!

Rosti was really crispy and salmon beautifully grilled!

Of course, I wouldn't forget to snap pictures of this pretty cosy brunch place. And I realized that I have forgotten to try the cakes and pastries on both occasions! They look so beautiful and yummy. I'll definitely be coming back to Wild Honey soon to try more of the breakfasts, sandwiches & desserts!

The strawberry cake is driving me crazy!!! LOL at my aunt's finger!

Interesting use of plates to decor the walls

I love this area, maybe I'll adopt this style for my dining/kitchen in future!

After the filling brunch! (Cute 阿宝色 effect from MTXX)

Ciao!

*brioche:  highly enriched French pastry, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb

Travelling

Yay I'd be flying to Bali tomorrow for a 4D3N getaway! I'm so excited because I haven't taken a plane since 3 years ago to Hong Kong with my girlfriends and it will be my first time on a plane with my aunt's family. I must admit that I have been quite nonchalant about this trip because my uncle settled all the administrative matters and only my mum and I are joining my aunt's family. Wonder how my house will turn out after 4 days with just the guys at home!

From Google Maps!

So, to make the trip more worthwhile, I did some last minute research on Bali! My perception of Bali would be the beach, water games, resorts and perhaps some vague impression of the news on its terrorist bombings (in 2002 and 2005). Some facts to share from Wiki, Bali is an island in Indonesia and the largest tourist destination in the country! The photos of Bali's beaches I found online seem to justify how it could have possibly been consistently attracting so many foreigners.

Incredibly clear ocean & pristine sand!

Looking forward to some sun and thrill at the beach! But I have no idea which part of Bali or which resort we would be going to... After reading up a little, the touristy places are concentrated in the South, perhaps we'll be staying in one of the main tourist areas like Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Oberoi. Something interesting I found out was that the 2010 movie, Eat, Pray, Love (EPL, LOL at the acronym cos I totally assumed it meant English Premier League in the Wiki article), which starred Julia Roberts and most girls raved about, was filmed at the Ubud & Padang-Padang beach of Bali.

"... Ubud, the hill town and cultural and tourist center that was the focus of Gilbert's quest for balance through traditional spirituality and healing that leads to love." 

Awesome! Gonna watch the film later today and hope that I'll get to visit the film sites! 

Alright, enough with the happy stuff, I have a weird mum experimenting with a random scarf in front of my mirror beside me right now. She is hilarious but I shall still rant about what made me so upset and disappointed just now. I have been spending the past week researching on domestic flights, hotels bookings and travel packages to plan for the most value-for-money trip to Orlando, Florida with one girl and one guy who will be my course mates from NUS for the upcoming summer programme at Yale. Because we have an odd number of travelers, as well as the odd mix of genders, I had to ensure that the hotel room we were booking has 2 separate beds and preferably Queen-sized for the girl and I to share a bed and still sleep comfortably. Due to our international flights arriving in NY at 1pm (Wed) and the need to report to Yale by 12pm (Sun), the tight restriction on the domestic flight timings had to be of great concern as well. Moreover, the location of the hotel, whether it provides shuttle services to the attractions, the transport to and fro the hotel and the airport were all of consideration.

Imagine having thought through so much and being considerate to everyone on the trip, yet when you were collating their personal details to book the stuff online, the female acquaintance has to pull out! And to inform me only now, after we have confirmed that we would be travelling together 5 days before our programme, after all my tedious planning, after the guy and I purchasing our international flight tickets to arrive so much earlier. Do you think an apology will suffice? But I'm more or less not as agitated now but troubled as to how I am supposed to spend my 5 days in US because I REFUSE to alter my flight to a later date! After so much trouble and effort to maximize my utility for this trip, it has to be ruined by an irresponsible person... I almost went ahead booking and paying for all 3 of us before re-confirming with them again. I would be even more screwed up if I have done that. So much for putting in so much faith and trust in people I barely knew.

Sigh, thinking of alternatives now but everything seems bleak. 

Goodnight world.